Baptist News Global
Sections
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Curated
  • Storytelling
    • Faith & Justice >
      • Charleston: Metanoia with Bill Stanfield
      • Charlotte: QC Family Tree with Greg and Helms Jarrell
      • Little Rock: Judge Wendell Griffen
      • North Carolina: Conetoe
    • Welcoming the Stranger >
      • Lost Boys of Sudan: St. John’s Baptist Charlotte
      • Awakening to Immigrant Justice: Myers Park Baptist Church
      • Hospitality on the corner: Gaston Christian Center
    • Signature Ministries >
      • Jake Hall: Gospel Gothic, Music and Radio
    • Singing Our Faith >
      • Hymns for a Lifetime: Ken Wilson and Knollwood Baptist Church
      • Norfolk Street Choir
    • Resilient Rural America >
      • Alabama: Perry County
      • Texas: Hidalgo County
      • Arkansas Delta
      • Southeast Kentucky
  • More
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donate
    • Planned Giving
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Advertising
    • Ministry Jobs and More
    • Transitions
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions and Permissions
Support independent, faith-based journalism. Donate
Search Search this site

The divine dance of the Trinity

OpinionScott Dickison  |  May 24, 2016

Dickison_Scott_ColumnSince the 14th century, the first Sunday after Pentecost has been celebrated in the Western Church as “Trinity Sunday,” presumably with the hope that one of these years we’ll figure it out.

I’m kidding, but one of the ironies of the Trinity is that this doctrine meant to clarify the unity of the Godhead really serves to unify the church in making jokes about its incomprehensibility.

Of course, the Trinity hasn’t always been a joking matter — far from it, in fact. Probably no other doctrine in the church has led to more councils and commissions, leading to more excommunications and even executions. It goes without saying that certain events in this contentious and at times violent history around the Trinity are disgraceful, but if any doctrine were to elicit this kind of response, the Trinity would be it. After all, what’s at stake is nothing less than the nature of God. Or at least our understanding of the nature of God, which is a distinction often lost on the church, in this and other matters.

The spectrum of talk about the Trinity is part and parcel of how the church talks about anything: the further away we get from the language of poetry in favor of a kind of rigid and uncompromising prose, the more harm we do. The less holy we are. Yes, conversation about the Trinity has called forth some of our most abstruse offerings of language, often in the form of creeds and confessions. But it’s also inspired some of the most beautiful and poetic speech about God you’re likely to hear. Such is the tension when speaking of and out of faith.

Take Tertullian, the great North African theologian who may have actually coined the term “Trinity” (in Latin, trinitas). I’m told that he described the Trinity as a kind of plant, where God is the root going deep into the ground, the Son is the shoot that breaks forth into the world, and the Holy Spirit is that which brings beauty and fragrance into the world.

One of the great church mothers, Catherine of Siena, tells us that the Holy Trinity is like a dinner party to which we’ve all been invited. God is the table at which we sit and the chairs we sit upon, what’s underneath all that we’re doing. Christ is the food we eat that nourishes us and brings us together — the bread broken for us, the cup poured out for us. And the Holy Spirit, she says, is the host who’s prepared a place for us, who greets us at the door, invites us in to this divine dinner party.

The famous Russian icon of the Trinity is similar. It depicts the three angels who visited Abraham at the Oak of Mamre from Genesis 18 sitting around a table. The perspective of the icon and the arrangement of the angels around the table give the effect of the viewer sitting at the table with them.

But perhaps the most powerful and poetic image of the Trinity I know of is actually tucked inside a seemingly arcane theological concept that might be mistaken for the aforementioned rigid prose. The Eastern Church (which by the way has had a much easier time making sense of the Trinity than us Westerners or, more accurately, has been much more comfortable with the mystery of it all) has long described the nature of the Trinity as perichoresis, which literally means “dancing around.”

I love this image of Almighty and Everlasting God as three people dancing in perfect unity. What could we learn of a God who dances? Or even more, what could we learn if God is dance? What would it mean for all of creation, and we ourselves, to be the intended consequence of divine slide-step or tango or swing or waltz?

I read once that the rabbis used to say, to dance is an “achievement.” They said it was an achievement to struggle with your sadness or embarrassment or pride enough to “bring it into the joy.’ I love that.

And this may be the part of the doctrine of the Trinity that goes most underappreciated: that God’s deepest longing is to bring us into the joy. To invite us into the great dance of creation. To have us take a seat at the divine dinner party.

If imagination is just not your thing, then by all means scoff at the Trinity. Laugh if you must, but consider what it would mean to laugh with God and the church, not at. But if you really want to articulate the nature of the Godhead in all its glory and wonder and mystery, it’s almost always best not to say a word at all.

Simply find a rhythm, and, well, you’ll know what to do.


OPINION: Views expressed in Baptist News Global columns and commentaries are solely those of the authors.
Tags:Scott DickisonPentecostTrinityHoly SpiritTrinity SundayTake TertullianCatherine of Siena
Scott Dickison
More by
Scott Dickison
  • Get BNG headlines in your inbox

  • Featured

    • Join Ryan Burge and Mark Wingfield for a free webinar on the ‘nones’

      News

    • When politics becomes religion

      Opinion

    • Here’s help for addressing mental health in marriage

      News

    • Why we must not turn away from the Derek Chauvin trial

      Opinion


    Curated

    • How ‘complementarianism’ – the belief that God assigned specific gender roles – became part of evangelical doctrine

      How ‘complementarianism’ – the belief that God assigned specific gender roles – became part of evangelical doctrine

      April 14, 2021
    • Can America’s ‘Civil Religion’ Still Unite The Country?

      Can America’s ‘Civil Religion’ Still Unite The Country?

      April 14, 2021
    • Fox stands behind Tucker Carlson after ADL urges his firing

      Fox stands behind Tucker Carlson after ADL urges his firing

      April 14, 2021
    • How a Georgia pastor practiced what he preached by accepting LGBTQ members into his Southern Baptist church

      How a Georgia pastor practiced what he preached by accepting LGBTQ members into his Southern Baptist church

      April 14, 2021
    Read Next:

    Ways of seeing racism

    OpinionDuke L. Kwon and Gregory Thompson

    More Articles

    • All
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Curated
    • Texas takes the spotlight as statehouses across the nation seek to restrict trans teens and voter access

      AnalysisMark Wingfield

    • Why we must not turn away from the Derek Chauvin trial

      OpinionFloyd Thompkins

    • Ways of seeing racism

      OpinionDuke L. Kwon and Gregory Thompson

    • Here’s help for addressing mental health in marriage

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • America 2021: Got church and steeple but where are the people?

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • Finding sabbath in a hammock

      OpinionPatrick Wilson

    • ‘Pandemic acknowledges no religious exemption,’ interfaith group warns state legislatures

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • When politics becomes religion

      OpinionDavid Gushee, Senior Columnist

    • Kieve senses a calling to new role helping churches prevent and respond to sexual abuse

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • ‘The Bible says’: Sermons then and now

      OpinionCarl Kell

    • Join Ryan Burge and Mark Wingfield for a free webinar on the ‘nones’

      NewsBNG staff

    • It’s up to the Senate now to fix our democracy

      OpinionElder Lee Harris

    • De La Torre calls for ‘badass believers’ to decolonize Christianity

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Here’s something to try on for size: Talk about things that are ‘more-than-human’

      OpinionCody J. Sanders

    • Another Friday night, another Supreme Court rapid ruling on churches and COVID

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Would Jesus wear $800 sandals?

      OpinionTerry Austin

    • Now Beth Moore is taking on patriarchy in the church

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • When pastors change churches during a global pandemic, it takes creativity and perseverance

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Angry man with bulldozer severely damages Dellanna West O’Brien School in Liberia

      NewsGrace Thornton

    • Where is Mike Huckabee?

      OpinionRobert P. Sellers

    • American Christianity in China also imports gender bias and Calvinism

      AnalysisRick Pidcock

    • We cannot now close our border to those fleeing the horror we helped create

      OpinionChris Conley

    • That time I went to the school board meeting to speak against banning books

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • Chip Gaines writes about building a network of support and not being constrained by conventional wisdom

      NewsMaina Mwaura

    • Here’s help for addressing mental health in marriage

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • ‘Pandemic acknowledges no religious exemption,’ interfaith group warns state legislatures

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Kieve senses a calling to new role helping churches prevent and respond to sexual abuse

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Join Ryan Burge and Mark Wingfield for a free webinar on the ‘nones’

      NewsBNG staff

    • De La Torre calls for ‘badass believers’ to decolonize Christianity

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Another Friday night, another Supreme Court rapid ruling on churches and COVID

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Now Beth Moore is taking on patriarchy in the church

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • When pastors change churches during a global pandemic, it takes creativity and perseverance

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Angry man with bulldozer severely damages Dellanna West O’Brien School in Liberia

      NewsGrace Thornton

    • Chip Gaines writes about building a network of support and not being constrained by conventional wisdom

      NewsMaina Mwaura

    • Months after two hurricanes, vaccinated volunteers finally heading to Lake Charles

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Contrary to what you’ve heard, study finds churches thrive with racial diversity

      NewsCynthia Astle

    • CBF Benefits Board names executive vice president and COO

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • In state legislatures, a push against trans teens, for churches as ‘essential’ and seeking to define ‘religious freedom’

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • What we missed most about in-person church, what’s coming back and what’s likely to change

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • If you want to help the poor, first understand their humanity

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Second Easter during pandemic brings greater sense of hope nationwide

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • In Tigray, Ethiopia, six months of pain, suffering and disaster

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • Ryan Burge sifts the data to paint an evolving portrait of the ‘nones’

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Transitions for the week of 4-2-21

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • 25 faith-based schools named in LGBTQ discrimination case against Department of Education

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Less than half of Americans now claim a formal congregational membership

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Why we must not turn away from the Derek Chauvin trial

      OpinionFloyd Thompkins

    • Ways of seeing racism

      OpinionDuke L. Kwon and Gregory Thompson

    • America 2021: Got church and steeple but where are the people?

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • Finding sabbath in a hammock

      OpinionPatrick Wilson

    • When politics becomes religion

      OpinionDavid Gushee, Senior Columnist

    • ‘The Bible says’: Sermons then and now

      OpinionCarl Kell

    • It’s up to the Senate now to fix our democracy

      OpinionElder Lee Harris

    • Here’s something to try on for size: Talk about things that are ‘more-than-human’

      OpinionCody J. Sanders

    • Would Jesus wear $800 sandals?

      OpinionTerry Austin

    • Where is Mike Huckabee?

      OpinionRobert P. Sellers

    • We cannot now close our border to those fleeing the horror we helped create

      OpinionChris Conley

    • That time I went to the school board meeting to speak against banning books

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • What I found hidden in my mother’s Bible after her death

      OpinionKim Brewer

    • Four ways to help others through grief and mourning amid social isolation

      OpinionJacob George

    • A few good men?: Promising Young Woman and the culture of abuse

      OpinionGreg Garrett, Senior Columnist

    • I knew the truth about women in the Bible, and I stayed silent

      OpinionBeth Allison Barr

    • How American exceptionalism is killing America

      OpinionRichard T. Hughes

    • The end of American exceptionalism

      OpinionSteve Sullivan

    • To live into Easter, we need to keep writing a new song

      OpinionLaura Mayo

    • How to find resilience for the long run of COVID, as we’re ‘almost there, but not quite yet’

      OpinionPaula Mangum Sheridan

    • George Floyd’s murder: Knowing what cannot be unseen

      OpinionWendell Griffen

    • The habits of churches that need resurrection

      OpinionBrett Younger

    • Consider the trees: A Holy Week reflection on looking up

      OpinionRick Pidcock

    • Baylor, Baptists and slavery: A way forward

      OpinionGreg Garrett, Senior Columnist

    • Admitting our part in ‘Good’ Friday

      OpinionSteve Sullivan

    • How ‘complementarianism’ – the belief that God assigned specific gender roles – became part of evangelical doctrine

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Can America’s ‘Civil Religion’ Still Unite The Country?

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Fox stands behind Tucker Carlson after ADL urges his firing

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • How a Georgia pastor practiced what he preached by accepting LGBTQ members into his Southern Baptist church

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Public policy leader Weston Ware dies at age 88

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Panel advances bill to let Arkansas teachers talk creationism

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Are LGBTQ students at Christian schools discriminated against? A lawsuit, scholarly studies say yes.

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • A Georgia church, kicked out of the SBC for allowing gay members, wants to make sure ‘everybody’s welcome’

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Faith leaders call for elimination of Senate filibuster

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Joe Biden is not planning to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Christian nationalism is a barrier to mass vaccination against COVID-19

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Celebrity lineup to read King’s anti-war speech on assassination anniversary

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Montana House backs bill on religious challenges to rules

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Georgia faith leaders to leave water bottles around Capitol in protest of new voter laws

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Vatican makes moral case for supporting people displaced by climate change

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Baylor partnership brings Baptist Standard archive online

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Survey: Most Americans know Biden is Catholic, far fewer know Harris’ religion

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Georgia’s new GOP election law draws criticism, lawsuits

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • At nationwide rallies, Christians stand up for Asian Americans

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Appellate court arguments set for Charleston church shooter

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Franklin Graham unfazed after evangelical base blasts him for encouraging vaccines

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Shooter at Kansas Jewish centers appeals death sentence

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Like Beth Moore, many women preachers have had to break free to follow God’s call

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Texas health care provider ordered to pay former employees for mandating prayer and religious discussions

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Many QAnon followers report having mental health diagnoses

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    Conversations that Matter.

    © 2021 Baptist News Global. All rights reserved.

    Want to share a story? We hope you will! Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here.

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • RSS